Book Oscar Winner: Interview with Penny Reid

Now it's time for an exclusive interview with The Book Oscar Winner in the category for Best Book, Penny Reid! :) Just scroll down and check it out :)

Hi Penny :)

Congratulations on your win and welcome to Living in Our Own Story :) Thanks a lot for sparing the time to answer a few questions for us and our readers.

LIOS: What prompted you to write and release your first book?

PENNY: I wrote my first book on a bet. A colleague of mine (who happened to be a Ph.D. biochemist) loved reading romance novels, but complained that she had a difficult time finding characters to whom she could relate. I told her I could and would write a novel about a (book) smart heroine if she took me out for a fancy dinner.

LIOS: What is your inspiration for writing such incredible books?

PENNY: I don’t know how incredible they are… but usually inspiration comes from the characters. I think and plot and obsess about my characters until they feel real to me. Then I try to write a story worthy of them.

LIOS: When did you know you wanted to be an author?

PENNY: I’ve always written short stories (since I was about 8) and have loved to read. But I thought people became authors like people became mermaid (i.e. it never happened).

LIOS: How long on average does it take you to write a book?

PENNY: Average (from chapter 1 to epilogue) is usually two months. I’ve written books in as little as 17 days and as long as 7 months.

LIOS: Who is your favorite book boyfriend?

PENNY: Viv from Painted Faces by L.H. Cosway or Captain Wentworth from Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

LIOS: Who is your author idol?

PENNY: Jane Austen. Her characters are smart and clever, her stories have relevant commentary (on the current events of her time), and the romance always feels believable and fantastical at the same time.

LIOS: What sexy scene from your books you would like to re-enact in real life?

PENNY: None, so far. Though I’d like to write a sex-in-space (zero gravity) scene . . .

LIOS: Do you remember the first book that made you cry and how old were you?

PENNY: It was the 3^rd book in The Lord of the Rings (The Return of the King) and I was 14 (spoiler alert—when the reader thinks Frodo has died).

LIOS: What is your writing Kryptonite?

PENNY: Too much coffee. If I drink too much coffee then my brain won’t allow me to focus. It’s the worst, because I really love coffee.

LIOS: What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

PENNY: I don’t find writing male POV any more or less difficult than writing female POV. Some characters are exceptionally difficult to write because I share very little in common with them (like Drew from Beauty and the Mustache). And some characters are exceptionally easy because he/she is basically me (like Cletus from Beard Science).

LIOS: How do you select the names of your characters?

PENNY: Sometimes it depends on the needs of the book (e.g. Ashley’s brothers all needed ridiculous “hillbilly” names, to trick the reader into misjudging them early on.) But if the name doesn’t matter to the plot/central theme of the story, I go to baby-naming websites and randomly click on a letter.

LIOS: What was your hardest scene to write?

PENNY: Drew Runous’s epilogue at the end of Beauty and the Mustache. Being inside his head was. . . difficult. I don’t think I could write from his perspective again; the scene took me over a week to write.

LIOS: What can we expect from you next?

PENNY: Next is Beard in Mind, book #4 in the Winston Brothers series! He’ll be paired off with Quinn Sullivan’s sister Shelly (from Neanderthal Marries Human) and . . . it’s a very weird book. 😉